About this item
Highlights
- "The impressive first in a historical series, which effortlessly alternates between Washington, D.C., in 1862 and the same city 95 years later...this debut shows definite promise.
- Author(s): David R Horwitz
- 288 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Mystery & Detective
Description
About the Book
The mystery began in a decrepit, old Victorian house in the heart of Washington, D.C. It stood amid vacant lots overgrown with weeds and trash a mere three blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Its former elegance was undeniable, but decades of neglect had rendered the once-stately home a wreck. Behind layers of peeling paint, rust, and broken windows, it faced the street with the overwhelming sadness of what once was. If a house were a living thing, this one was barely so, and even then hanging on only out of spite. It was no place for a police station. Sgt. Ben Carey, of the Metropolitan Police Department, is the commanding officer of a unit working out of the converted house. Though his career is on the rise, his marriage is on the rocks, and when his wife kicks him out of their apartment days before Christmas, he makes a temporary home of the old building. The trouble is, hes not the only one living there. He begins to see and hear things he cannot explain: a long-dead Union soldier; a beautiful young woman; a little boy; and a sinister, filthy derelict. What have they got to do with this place? And what do they want from Ben Carey? A murder mystery set in Washington, D.C., Murder Bay crosses boundaries of time, traveling back and forth between the capitals Civil War past and the postwar 1950s, and boundaries of reason, as undeniably supernatural events overcome the natural skepticism of a seasoned cop and war vet, Ben Carey. As Carey and the reader peel back the layers of what happened to the young Union soldier, the man responsible for his murder, and his lover and unborn son he would never know, the story throws up further riddles for Carey to solve, culminating in a conclusion that isboth riveting and unexpected.Book Synopsis
"The impressive first in a historical series, which effortlessly alternates between Washington, D.C., in 1862 and the same city 95 years later...this debut shows definite promise." --Publishers Weekly
No one noticed anything suspicious about the death of a wounded soldier at the height of the Civil War--not, that is, until almost a hundred years later.
In 1957, a young Washington, D.C. police sergeant, Ben Carey, heads up a team of officers in a dilapidated house three blocks from the Capitol. Though Carey's career is on the rise, his marriage is circling the drain, and as he spends more time at the office, he discovers there is something not quite right about this decaying old home. It harbors some dark secrets--connecting him to the long-dead soldier and others in ways he can't understand. With his personal life in shambles, and forces from within the house vying for his attention, Carey casts reason aside and begins an investigation to uncover the truth about what happened in this haunted place. As he peels back the layers of history, he finds courage and love, but also deception, greed, jealousy, and murder.
Twisting through time--between an America torn by Civil War and the prosperous 1950s-Murder Bay is a mystery that spans eras and the gulf dividing what can and cannot be explained.
"Very nicely done...Recommended." --Library Journal
"An involving, period-perfect story. The action is fast-paced and convincing...the characters are expertly drawn." --Foreword Reviews
Review Quotes
"The impressive first in a historical series, which effortlessly alternates between Washington, D.C., in 1862 and the same city 95 years later...this debut shows definite promise." --Publishers Weekly
"Very nicely done...Recommended." --Library Journal
"An involving, period-perfect story. The action is fast-paced and convincing...the characters are expertly drawn." --Foreword Reviews
"[A] pleasant surprise. Murder Bay introduces Ben Carey, a Korean War veteran freshly promoted to police sergeant, quietly lamenting the impending end of his marriage and befuddled about the ghosts who seem to be haunting the run-down building housing his new office. Are they a figment of Carey's normally rational imagination, or an echo of the previous century and a long-buried mystery with roots in the Civil War and doomed love?... Horwitz distracts from the obvious by setting the plot up nicely with dual narratives, palpable emotions and believable investigative habits. It's a true shame that this series has a definite, if involuntary, end." --Baltimore Sun